Students in Timmins, Kapuskasing and Area High Schools to Receive Lifesaving Training!

TIMMINS, ON – May 24, 2013 – Today, the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation and its supporting partners are pleased to announce that Timmins, Kapuskasing and area high schools are now equipped to teach lifesaving skills to their Grade 9 students.

To highlight this initiative, a presentation with photos will take place today, May 24 at 11:30 a.m. at Timmins High & Vocational School (451 Theriault Blvd, Timmins, ON, P4N 8B2). A presentation for Kapuskasing area high schools will be held on Monday, May 27 at 11 a.m. at Kapuskasing District High School (61 Devonshire St., Kapuskasing, ON, P5N 1C5).

Each year, more than 1,200 students from 15 high schools in the District School Board Ontario North East, the Northeastern Catholic District School Board and the Conseil scolaire catholique de district des Grandes Rivières will learn CPR and defibrillation through the ACT High School CPR and Defibrillator Training Program.

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is establishing CPR and defibrillator training programs in high schools throughout Canada. The program is built on ACT’s award-winning community-based model of partnerships and support. ACT raises funds for training mannequins and defibrillator training units for all high schools and guides schools in program set-up.

In these school boards, the lead community partner, TransCanada Corporation, has donated 38 Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training units, 95 training mannequins, curriculum resources as well as teacher training to support this lifesaving program.

“TransCanada believes in partnering with organizations that help build stronger communities,” says Marie Rajic, Director, Corporate Social Responsibility, TransCanada. “Helping these young students to gain the ability to make a serious contribution to the health and safety of others in their community is a perfect opportunity to do just that and we are proud to be a part of this program.”

Provincial partners include the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario, and Hydro One. The ACT Foundation’s national health partners – AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada and Sanofi – are committed to bringing the program to high schools in Northeastern Ontario and across Canada.

“Hydro One continues to be a proud supporter of the ACT Foundation’s CPR and Defibrillator Training Program”, said John Macnamara, VP, Health, Safety & Environment, Hydro One. “Safety is our priority in everything we do and we feel that it important to assist in the development of these programs in order to ensure we are helping create safe communities and a safety-focused workforce.”

“We are thrilled with the support of ACT’s partners. Without them, this lifesaving program would not be possible,” says ACT Foundation Executive Director Sandra Clarke.

Eight in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur at home. Early CPR, combined with the use of an AED within the first few minutes, can improve survival rates for cardiac arrest victims by up to 75 per cent, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

To date, the ACT Foundation has set up the High School CPR Program in more than 1,600 schools nation-wide, empowering more than 1.8 million youth to save lives.

About the ACT Foundation

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is establishing CPR and defibrillator training programs in Canadian high schools. To date, the ACT Foundation has set up the ACT High School CPR Program in more than 1,600 schools nation-wide, empowering more than 1.8 million youth to save lives. The program is built on ACT’s award-winning community-based model of partnerships and support. ACT’s health partners who are committed to bringing the program to high schools across Canada include AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada, and Sanofi.

For more information or to read about our rescues visit: www.actfoundation.ca .

About TransCanada

With more than 60 years’ experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and oil pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada operates a network of natural gas pipelines that extends more than 68,500 kilometres (42,500 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent’s largest providers of gas storage and related services with more than 400 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns or has interests in over 11,800 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is developing one of North America’s largest oil delivery systems. TransCanada’s common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. For more information visit: www.transcanada.com or check us out on Twitter @TransCanada or http://blog.transcanada.com.